Silver Lining
by junuve
Summary: Two wearied souls cloud gaze during a respite, and one of them has a small realization. (Mostly an excuse to write Nier and Weiss fluff.)


AN: Yes, the cover image is exactly what you think it is.

* * *

Nier and the Great Grimoire Weiss rested by a campfire, tucked into a cleft along a foothill of the northern ranges. Warmth from the fire filled the nook that provided them cover.

The crackle of burning wood was a soothing contrast to the howls of the shades down below. Nier tossed a few more sticks into the flames.

The Shades' cries had begun to resound in the quiet moments too— for Nier at least. Distorted shrieks and bellows hovered on the cusp of his ears, like sensory mirages.

He played melodies of so-called ancient songs in his mind. They helped him maintain a calmness.

Nier's focus wandered from the fire to the twilight-dappled plains and the skies. The winds swirled the clouds above, one layer melting into another. He ascertained the movements of the clouds, trying to discern their textures and turnings. His brain soothed as it worked, picking a plethora of shapes out. Places and peoples sprung from the chaos.

Nier could feel the last coils of muscle in his body relax and fall. His eyelids weighed heavily. Maybe he didn't need just a 'breather'…

"Stunning," the word was strangely vulnerable in the tranquility.

Nier blinked awake.

"…in some sense," Weiss appended dismissively.

Nier glanced over his shoulder, removing his hand from the hilt of his blade. He was still too used to traveling alone.

His companion Weiss was resting on the ground, back cover leaned against some eroded rock with his silver face toward the skies.

A contentedness had settled over the tome. Nier could feel it. He'd developed a sense for reading the scrollwork of his partner, and also for hearing the intonations of his sharp tongue. Or maybe these feelings were product of some ominous voodoo link between the two of them. Nier had sworn an oath to this Grimoire…

Then again, Nier didn't care. He liked Weiss.

"It _is_ stunning," Nier's voice was hoarse from disuse.

A pleasant hum came from the tome, and that was all. They sat long in this silence; neither the less comfortable for it.

Nier let his senses drift. The clouds lost his attention and his eyes fell upon the book as the fire's glow played upon his cover. Weiss' looping filigree curled around his haunting 'face'. He was mostly symmetrical, save a weird sash of silver across his… forehead? His crown? Actually, the more Nier looked at him, the more Weiss looked like a small, frowny bald man with big dangly earrings.

Nier made a face.

Then he turned away, realizing how intense he was being. But Weiss had picked up on his gawking nonetheless.

"Hmmm?"

Nier pretended to not hear that.

"Oh, come on." Weiss fluttered a few pages to get Nier's attention. "Is it how I'm sitting? A bit of gore on my cover? …forgot an item on your shopping list?" The last carried a dose of disdain.

Nier finally answered, "it's nothing."

There was a sigh, and Nier clearly envisioned Weiss rolling his eyes behind him.

"Fine then," Weiss murmured, less annoyed than he should have sounded.

Weiss was watching the clouds just as Nier had been. He'd wondered what the man gleaned from such meaningless observations. However, as Weiss lent himself to such a pointless exercise, something stirred. A basil cognition, he presumed, but a satisfying one.

It almost made laying around like useless bums enjoyable. But by his pages, they wasted precious time! All the errands and sleeping and eating, it could drive a man to madness!

And yet…

The peace was indeed _stunning_. He'd commented this without even realizing.

What a bizarre thing for a Grimoire to do. Words were his existence, his power, but for a moment, they were meaningless…

…just as empty as the sea of syllables that poured from dirty mouths encompassing. He was held captive by how he envisioned this. The letters that came to his mind were pungently real, shrill and feral, and ran like strands of black saliva—rivers of smoke from fires.

Silver drifted into silver, like snow—like—

_White…_

Oh no.

A subtle shift in the grooves of his design made his scowl ever more severe. Memories bubbled into the fore of his mind, gnawing through the peace as weevils through wood. Whispers called from pages unturned. His covers tightened in discomfort, strangling the words therein.

Recollections danced inside—rising, tessellating—each fragment aligning to form a picture he could not bear to— He didn't want to look, he didn't want to— h-he didn't—

A gentle nudge on his binding startled Weiss. He flew up into the air and whipped around. Half-open, he was ready to sprout a dark lance or hand or—

He sized up his assaulter. It was Nier's index finger.

_Oh, for the love of…_

The dirty finger was still outstretched. Behind the hand Nier's face hovered, deep-set eyes wide in surprise.

The tome jerked towards the man's face, accusatory. Weiss said nothing. He just stared at him. Angrily.

"Sorry… to… disturb?" Nier apologized.

"As you should be!" How had he been so unaware? What a disgraceful display! "One does not go around poking others as a child. How DARE you! I have not seen you wash your hands in two full da-"

"Calm down, Weiss," Nier's deep tone urged him, "I was just letting you know I was going to take a nap."

Weiss wanted to press the issue of his proper name, but Nier began to speak once more.

"Or… wait, were _you_ asleep?" Nier asked, genuinely curious.

Weiss sputtered, "me? Sleep!? I don't know the meaning."

"Well, you seemed… still," Nier said, "don't be so defensive."

Weiss had to concede that he was a bit defensive, but it was only since he was on edge from this whole _amnesia _affair. He didn't tell Nier that, of course. The brute was probably partially culpable for it, after all! Damn idiot, smacking him like that…

"I was going to take a rest, but if you'd like to-"

"No, no!" Weiss cut him off. "Go ahead. Rest. Your flesh doth crave a reprieve."

Nier raised an eyebrow. "…that's not a creepy way to put it."

"I'll watch while you get your beauty sleep," Weiss teased, "how's that?"

"A beauty _nap_," Nier put a finer point on it as he unclasped his shoulder-plate. "Wake me up in a few."

Weiss had predetermined to let a 'few' be a 'many'. The man needed it. He was worn raw by their travels. Weiss could not bear to stare at such a haggard face any longer.

"We've got to get on the road again." Nier settled his bulk into a sleeping position, using a rolled up supply tote as a pillow.

"Oh, what for?" Weiss prodded, "the melon…?"

"Watermelon."

"Ah, yes. The noble quest for the _Legendary Melon of Water_," Weiss embellished so very much.

"We're heading out that way anyway." The humor was lost on Nier. Or maybe not. He didn't laugh all too much. "May as well make her day while we're at it."

It was remarkable how strong and stubborn this creature was, even as he hurtled toward the limits of his lifespan.

Weiss mused, "I still don't know how the little Miss Yonah consumes fruit so fast…"

Nier had closed his eyes.

Weiss continued to prattle, "perhaps it's due to her descending from another pale-haired eating machine I know…"

That was the ticket. Nier smirked, eliciting a single chuckle before rolling over.

Weiss would have smirked in return, but couldn't bring it beyond the internal. It was just as well. He was sure Nier could pick up on his moods, especially one of wiliness.

Hm.

The tome found himself floating there, staring at the exposed muscled and _dirty_ back of this man. And he was grinning like an idiot.

Weiss spun around in the air, looking to the clouds for solace. Perhaps one suitably dismal and brooding! That was a familiar feeling… yes! An austere cloud for a stern book.

Yet the sun now peered through the overcast skies, igniting the fields with a verdant glow. The shades had receded, and dots of white sheep adorned the plains like clusters of pearls.

The sunlight shocked whatever sight receptors Weiss had, threatening to blind him. Disregarding that trifle, the warmth of the sun felt wholesome; wholly unlike that of the fire. He had the idea that his silver cover was positively brilliant in the light.

A loud snore interrupted his glorious sunbath. Nier had twisted himself over onto his chest already, neck at an awkward angle and smashing his face into the floor. _Ridiculous._

Weiss chuckled at the display.

He was truly glad to be around this… creature.

Somehow.

A niggling doubt attempted to devour that bloom of whatever-it-was. Happiness? Weiss returned his focus to the skies, the sun igniting the gray clouds, gilding their borders with light.

They were _glowing_.

A pleasant thought stirred, abating doom. The memory laid uncovered like a curious stone. Something about an old saying… 'twas a saying of hope.

"Every cloud has a silver lining."

Ah! He liked it. He'd have to bookmark that one.

Taken by a fit of sudden cheerfulness, the Great Grimoire Weiss turned about in the air and floated down beside the man. Gently, he rested against Nier, or rather… his_ silver lining._


End file.
